March 17, 2020
Our economy is built upon mobility. We all move short and
long distances every day in an interconnected global economic system. The COVID-19 pandemic will affect all working
people and the impact on travel, hospitality and transportation workers will be
significant. These are the workers in hotels, airlines, airports, and public
transit that literally keep the economy moving.
As those representing travel, hospitality and transportation workers in
Toronto, we ask the following of government and employers as we manage the
pandemic.
1. Health and Safety First. As workers providing services
and interacting directly with the public, every precaution must be taken to
limit the spread of COVID-19. To maintain the health of workers and the public,
we must make travel and transit safe. On
March 15, 2020 a Canada Border Services Agency officer was tested
positive. These workers are on the
front-line of screening travellers.
While it is crucial to maintain services, expanding the
right to refuse unsafe work, must be an option to keep workers and the public
safe. For example, if employers are unable to provide bus drivers or other
workers with masks, those workers must not be sanctioned for refusing to work.
Properly trained workers must be allowed to clean and be
provided with proper chemicals and equipment. Specifically, room attendants
must be allowed to clean rooms daily. This means suspending ‘green choice’
programs in hotels that give guests the option of not having their rooms
cleaned for loyalty points or other incentives. At the same time, flight
attendants are not trained to clean during a pandemic and should not be
expected to provide extra cleaning duties. Resources must be directed to extra
cleaning by airlines, airports, hotels and public transit agencies. Further,
these practices must continue in the future in order to enhance service and
prevent future pandemics.
2. Childcare. Our sectors employ tens of thousands of
workers with childcare responsibilities. We ask that these workers, mostly
women in some workplaces, be accommodated to care for children over the next
three weeks as schools in Ontario close. Parental hardship needs to be
recognized by employers as a valid reason for an employee being unable to
work. We also renew our demands to build
daycare facilities closer to places of work. Airport workers have demanded
daycare facilities at Pearson for years.
3. Income Supports. Workers in travel, hospitality and
transportation will be greatly affected as demand for mobility decreases
throughout the pandemic. We encourage governments and travel, hospitality and
transportation employers to work with unions to explore work sharing programs
and voluntary layoffs that maintain benefits for workers. The most important assistance the government
can give right now is to ensure all affected workers will have their wages
guaranteed. Tax cuts are less effective than reimbursement to employers who
avert layoffs and invest in training.
4. Retention and Retraining. The COVID-19 pandemic will end, and the
economy will recover. Again, we encourage government and employers to work with
us to plan the future in the present. This means developing a layoff aversion
strategy that provides opportunities for workers to upgrade their skills and
retrain during the downturn. Programs that subsidize precarious workers to
upgrade their skills to fill in-demand positions during the recovery will yield
long term benefits. Such programs can range from basic computer skills and
language training to more technical training and certification to operate new
equipment. Travel and transportation are
growth areas of the economy and we must invest in and retain workers now to
avoid long-term losses of skilled people.
How we work together today will determine how we build
for tomorrow.
For more information, please contact:
Mandie Abrams
Executive Director, Hospitality Workers Training Centre,
Email: mandie@hospitalitytrainingcentre.com
Phone: (437) 779 9307
Steven Tufts
Spokesperson, Toronto Airport Workers’ Council,
Email: mailto:wstufts@gmail.com
Phone: (416) 918 2074
John Di Nino,
President, ATU Canada,
Email: President@atucanada.ca
Phone: (416) 938 0745
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